A brilliant singer/songwriter releases an album that becomes huge, making him a legend.  Then he seemingly disappears from the face of the earth, amid rumors of violent suicide.  Years later a few fans try to figure out what happened.  No, it’s not Eddie and the Cruisers.  This is Searching for Sugar Man, and it’s a true story.  Oh yeah, and the music is even better.  That this film is an achievement in real-life storytelling is no surprise; producers John Battsek (Restrepo) and Simon Chinn (Man On Wire) know how to pull us heart and soul into a true story.  It’s no different here.

The 1970s.  Tons of amazing music, tons of different types of music.  In the crush of bands and genres enters Rodriguez, a man whose raw, insightful songs draw the attention of record industry folk.  He releases a record, then another…but never seems to break into the big time.  He shifts back into the day-to-day world and becomes just another guy in Detroit, working for a living.

However, in South Africa, a single copy of his first album, Cold Fact, becomes passed around and around.  Before you can say “Bob Marley’s Legend”, Rodriguez becomes an icon in the Apartheid-era country, influencing young Afrikaners and helping them raise their voices in protest of a way of life they wanted abolished.  But nobody knew what had happened to Rodriguez; most fans in South Africa believed legends of his suicide.  As with most fables, the ways and hows got twisted and turned, but the overall idea was that the singer was no longer among the living.  Then, in the 1990s, a group of South Africans united by their love of Rodriguez’s music worked together to find out what really happened, and were surprised to find out that the singer was still very much alive, working construction in Detroit.  What happened next is nothing short of a modern day fairy tale.

In Searching for Sugar Man director Malik Bendjelloul balances archival footage, present day interviews, street scenes set to pieces of Rodriguez’s music and animation that harkens back to Waltz with Bashir and makes a compelling film.  Even though the big secret — that Rodriguez is indeed alive and well and living in Detroit — is out of the bag, this film manages to hold an audience’s interest by capturing much more than the comeback of the singer.  The film takes a look at how record labels so often give short shrift to their talent (a practice that still seems to go on, as many performers crank out so-so albums in order to complete contractual obligations that don’t allow them to record music they’d rather make.)  Searching for Sugar Man interviews Motown’s Clarence Avant, who got the checks South African record sellers sent…but did he get the money?  And why didn’t Rodriguez see any of it?  Ahh, that’s a mystery fit for another film, but Sugar Man rightly keeps it’s focus on Rodriguez by giving viewers an overall picture of that mystifying business instead of stirring up a hornet’s nest.

Searching for Sugar Man also interviews Rodriguez’s daughters, who give a loving and honest look at his life before, during and after his “rediscovery”.  Record producer/actor Steve Rowland and musician Dennis Coffey also give their reflections on Rodriguez’s life and his abilities as a musician.  But the most amazing part of the film is when the man himself sits down for an interview; Rodriguez is now an older man, but just as talented as he was in the 70s.  And just as interested in the life of the common man (he gave away most of the money that was made during his tour in South Africa).  Rodriguez is definitely a man that walks the walk, and after watching this film and hearing his music I couldn’t help but want to hear more.  Happily that’s easy to do now.

Both Cold Fact and Coming from Reality are both available on Amazon, as is the official soundtrack for this film, a “best of” compliation which may end up a soundtrack classic like The Harder They Come, Purple Rain and Saturday Night Fever.  Some may say that it’s late in coming — and they’d be right — but I’m also amazingly grateful that Rodriguez and his songs are finally getting the recognition they’ve long deserved. Speaking of recognition, here’s hoping that Searching for Sugar Man gets some this awards season; it’d go a long way toward forgiving the Academy for past fubars, like skipping Hoop Dreams, Waiting for Superman and The Thin Blue Line.

Rodriguez is now touring again — he’ll be in DC August 30th, and in NYC the 31st — and I hope this is the start of a newfound respect for his artistry here in the States.  Meanwhile, fans in South Africa can smile and say they loved him first.  Thank goodness for his fan base over there, otherwise his return to live performances would never have happened.  Neither would Searching for Sugar Man, the film that can be credited for this resurgence.  A film that is definitely worth seeing when it comes to town; it’s not just a film for music lovers, it’s a film that strikes a chord in anyone who longs to see a story of how one man tried to make something of himself…and never knew how well he’d succeeded in doing just that.